S8 PM Android

This radio can do SO much and has so many options…I’ve tried 4 different versions of car launchers that all seem to work without a hitch…just some have better designed features/looks. The S8 head supported them all. I will say that I was a little disappointed that with all the features of this ATOTO head has, it is missing HD radio from its capabilities. HD radio seems to be a pretty basic feature now. However, it still is an outstanding head! The coolest feature (and the primary reason I chose this head over others...) is the "Birdseye" view aspect of the back up camera. I’m hoping this will be as great a feature as advertised. I have ordered the ATOTO HD backup camera that makes this feature work. I assumed wrongly that this was a purely software driven feature, but it turns out you have to use ATOTO's camera to make this feature work. A different brand HD camera will not work with this feature. Hoping for the best here, it is not a loss though since I am going to take the rear camera and place it upfront now for a front camera view. I use an Apple phone, so CarPlay was really important option for me to choose what head to use. I also wanted the new wireless CarPlay feature. ATOTO S8 Premium feature "CarLink" works just like factory CarPlay features. I am having a little trouble getting the CarPlay wireless to work seamlessly. As I said before, there’s so many options, I’m not sure I’ve got the settings for the seamless start correct. I’m not terribly bothered by that though since there are so many other features that I also use. CarLink/CarPlay works very well though, especially when I’m traveling. Installing it was a little difficult, but that was expected sense I was told by Crutchfield that they do not sell a unit that will go in my 2007 Nissan Maxima. Well guess what boys, I got this ATOTO S8 Radio installed just fine in this car. Mind you I did not have the cabling that allowed easy transfer, but with a my electronics background and the help of YouTube users, I made this head work nicely. Maybe someone out there will make a retrofit dash kit that works for 2007 Nissan Maxima someday. Just don’t know how much demand there is for that? I did have to bypass the Bose amplifier system in the car. The radio worked great with it installed, but the audio was just too loud and hard to control with the Bose factory amp installed. I was able to bypass the Bose amp and the radio performs even better! Great audio! Sounds really nice! I would say even better than before!! I’ve got to run another cable to hook up the subwoofer, but I will do that when I change out the backup camera. I don’t necessarily need the subwoofer, because it currently has great audio without sub….I’m just curious to see how well it will do with subs! All in all, I think ATOTO's S8 premium is a great radio! In fact, my wife has a 2019 Toyota RAV4 that I believe ATOTO makes a radio that fits this car unique factory setup. That’s what I plan on doing a few months down the road. I don’t think anyone can go wrong with this product. UPDATE: Installed camera After installing the new ATOTO HD 720 camera (AC-HD03LR) and going through the calibration process to make sure the camera is setup with the correct view aspect, I gotta say it works much like a factory multi-camera view. The camera combined software to extrapolate an overhead (Birdseye) view is short of amazing! It works GREAT! And it give this older car features it never thought of having...I think this will help me keep from backing into the side of a car when backing in AND allows me to evenly park in my spot [I hate crooked parked cars taking up more than one space]. Again, ATOTO S8 with Birdseye view HD camera option is an excellent buy! The only complaint is that the calibration tarp needs to have some weights sewn in the edging on the corners and key spots along front and back of tarp to prevent sheet from rolling/blowing away on windy days. On a mildly windy day, it is darn near IMPOSSIBLE to calibrate before the sheet parachutes away in the wind...just a suggestion for installation improvement :>)

I was little leary going with this brand as i had never heard of them before, but after reading a mixed bag of reviews of similiar pioneer and alpine units, i decided to take a chance on this. I got this for a 2006 gmc 2500hd slt duramax (with the factory bose system) I also purchased the recomended install kit and steering wheel controls adapter kit. The head unit arrived first, so i set it up on the bench and ran through the various features and was amazed at how well this unit was made and some thought went into the ergonomics of the user interface. Support contacted me via email while i was testing it and asked me how iliked it. I told them that i had not installed it yet, but so far on the bench it was excellent, with one minor thing i did not like. The default music app list's music with the typical id3 tag, or by artist, genre etc. I prefer a folder list view, as i have my library organised this way. I found a workaround for this by simply dowloading vlc (it is android based, however, vlc has its own annoyances, but i can live with them for now, mainly it will not auto seek to the next folder, just stops playing when it reaches the last song). They responded right away and said they would notify their development team of this and possibly change the default app !!!! Good luck trying to get that kind of response from alpine, jvc, pioneer etc.... This unit also has so much more than alpine or pioneer, micro sd card slot(so you dont have to use a usb drive plugged into a cable for stored music) wifi capability, can sync to any wifi network, or hot spot and use for direct nav, dowload apps, update files on sd card etc...) A gps ant for location / direct nav. They even have a model that has cell connection capability, but i didnt get this option as i didnt want to have to add it to my cellular plan. The install kit arriveed later and i installed the unit in the truck. Was very easy, and as it turns out, i didnt really need the install kit to install it, but did wind up using just the trim ring from the kit to cover a small gap around the face of the unit. I was concerned about the SWC module, as another user with the same truck had issues getting his to work. Everything worked perfect, you just have to go into the SWC app on the unit and do a learn procedure so it knows what button does what. The soud quality of this unit is as good as any other high end head unit i have used in the past, with lots of configurability (although i believe the bose system has its own factory amp,so this unit is only providing pre level outputs through the SWC module). Overall i would highly recomend this head unit.

Atoto S8G2B74PM is nice android head unit. You can install pretty much all android apps which is a great, plus turns on very quickly and no annoying warnings like you get with big brands. You can change settings, connect bluetooth, or type address in navigation while car is moving which is a major plus at least for me. However, the unit does have issues here and there. You don't get all the android settings like nearby share for example. It has all the hardware, you just cant turn it on because the settings aren't there, a total bummer (I hope ATOTO adds these settings very soon). ATOTOs launcher is okay, but nothing fancy to be honest. However if you chose a different launcher, it won't work properly. Even though you have different launcher set as default, the unit will still launch it's factory launcher. It seems to be happening at random times. While I have seen this in other android units, it happens way too frequently with atoto. When you're talking on your Bluetooth through this head unit, the issues will get old very quickly. The unit freezes up where it stays on Bluetooth screen and you can't change the screen, but it doesn't happen always, only when you really need a different screen like navigation because you have no idea where you're going. When everything is working fine while on Bluetooth, there are 3 buttons on bottom left corner like hang up and use speaker which is fine, until you need a keyboard, to type your location in navigation. Google maps is also a major pain. Every time you turn off your car, maps reset and you have to start all over which is super annoying when you need to just fill up your tank or grab something real quick from gas station. I haven't tried other maps like waze or MapQuest so I can't comment on those, but if you are traveling long distance you might be pulling your hair out. I ended up needing to stop at gass station where I didn't have signal. A total bummer because when I got back in the car, I couldn't look up the address or use Google maps. While you can download offline maps, Google definitely complicates that process and for some reason it takes for ever to download them on this unit, but I don't blame the unit for that. Bottom line, you can't depend on Google maps with this unit. I suggest you use Android auto as workaround if you're going to remote places or you'll be stopping anywhere I have contacted support and while they are very responsive, when I mentioned the issue with launcher they were quick to point the finger so that doesn't give me much hope that issues will be fixed, but I would love to be wrong. If the issues mentioned here we're fixed, atotos units would be amazing and i would definitely be buying more. I'll give them another week to see if any of these issues get fixed, and if not, I'll be returning my unit and looking elsewhere.

10/20/22 This is one of the best stereos I have used. One of the first things that should be noted is that you should pay attention as to whether or not you have the latest update for the stereo. If you dont it won't give you the wireless android auto (AA) and I had been waiting to review it due to this. After updating I can say that it is amazing for this price point now that wireless AA works. Installation was quite easy and the the only issue I had was figuring out where to place the GPS antenna that has some pretty strong tape already applied to it. All of the android apps work great and the boot up is very fast. It has rebooted on me while driving once or twice but it takes maybe 6 seconds before it's running again so I don't see it as an issue. Connecting to android auto takes maybe 8-10 seconds but if you only connect it to Bluetooth it is almost instantaneous (although the android auto is way better). Playing through Bluetooth lowers the volume so that isn't really an issue since Bluetooth has limitations, however android auto has a higher setting. The GPS is quite fast and accurate but that really depends on where you place the antenna. Make sure it's somewhere that isn't obstructed by body panels or just shoved inside the center console and same goes for the wifi antenna. The wifi on this is also really good and I sometimes hotspot to it so I can update apps and maybe play some YouTube/Netflix during work breaks Overall I'd say it's really good and the touch screen is really responsive as well. The only small complaint is that there are no physical buttons if that is something that matters to you

If you’re connected via Bluetooth to your phone listening to music and you walk out of range, like into the laundry mat or gas station, when you return you have to: 1) open settings 2) click on Bluetooth 3) click reset 4) open list of available items to connect to 5) click the item (phone) to connect to it 6) click Home 7) open your music and play E V E R Y T I M E Why doesn’t it automatically reconnect? I tried from my phone to connect to the unit and Nope. The area you touch (not a button - nobody uses raised buttons you can feel anymore) is so small that my man hands can’t find it. I think these things are made for Asian kids. The add-on video camera worked but wouldn’t record so what’s the point? Yes i bought a scan disk memory thingy. It would connect to my phones hot spot but no internet. !!? Some of these things could be my fault, my particular phones fault (IPhone SE 2020) I know but it just didn’t work for me. Having to reset the Bluetooth EVERY time i lost connection for a minute was the last straw. I punched it and the glass shattered. I’m going to remove it and have an Office Space Copier Moment 🥾 I’m going to go with a simple unit that has working Bluetooth. That’s all i use it for anyway. And an iPad holder to park in front of it which i use for everything.

Bought this for my 3rd generation Mazda convertible. Installed it myself. The quality of this unit is very good. Since it runs on Android it offers so many more features over the big car radio brands. The touch screen works great and the unit is very powerful without any lag when opening apps. The sound quality was surprisingly excellent. I am using it with the factory Bose amp and speakers in my car and it honestly sounds so much better than the stock Mazda radio did. I upgraded the firmware when I first got it to a new version that had a beta for WIRELESS Android Auto. It came with wireless Apple Car Play but I am an Android user so it was nice to be able to use AA wirelessly! I am very impressed with it overall and happy I bought it. And the installation went pretty smoothly, though be aware that the dimensions appeared to be slightly different from the typical 2-Din standard do you may need some adjustment with the face plate for your vehicle. I consider this a very good, bargain priced system that offers everything you could ever need and more. Loaded with excellent features and capability. Very pleased.

I went all in with ATOTO and just finished installing and setting up my ATOTO S8 Premium (7"), the AC-HD03LR rearview camera, the AC-44P2 on-dash camera, and the AC-4450 OBD2 scanner. It was a pretty easy install given all of the different components. For my 2017 Jeep JKU, I also needed a PAC RP4-CH11 for the SWC and factory amp. Some of the things I love: -Digital Signal Processing - the audio quality is a game changer and brought to life my Jeep Alpine system way more than the stock 430 head unit Android Auto integration -The CarLink app driving Android Auto is fantastic. Tight integration between my car and my phone makes it so easy and really enhances safety so that I'm not fumbling around with my phone. -Intelligent Bird's eye view from the backup camera (only with the AC-HD03LR) is so cool and something I thought only Teslas could have. -The ability to install my own apps and launchers on the head unit. -The ability to use my phone's internet via the USB connection (or wireless hotspot) -Totally configurable steering wheel controls - even after the install - via an app -Integrated front camera that starts recording when I turn on the car (that's the AC-44P2) -I wired the AC-HD03LR to power on with the head unit, so I can switch to rear view camera even when driving -Comes pre-installed with a ton of useful apps -Torque OBD2 allows real-time view of the operating state of the car and on-board diagnostics -Gestures! -Really good documentation Areas for improvement: -So far having I'm having some issues with the MicroSD cards. exFAT seems to be the best format though the documentation says otherwise. I'm hoping to work through this soon. All in all, I would definitely buy this again based upon my experience so far.

This review is after using the unit for almost 2 years. This unit is very well made, has everything needed for install, and has much potential. After installing the unit and getting it hooked up, the sound quality was excellent. I stream throught Tidal, Amazon Music, and Apple Music using the hotspot on my phone. Downloading apps from the Play store is very slow, but they work just like on a phone or in some cases like a PC. The touchscreen is responsive, very bright, and easy to navigate the unit features. The issues are with the accessories. I have yet to get the DVR dashcam to work. Will rarely install and when it does uninstalls itself after a short time. Not sure if it a function of the unit or the camera. I have yet to be able to to get Android Auto to connect through USB. This is with both a Pixel 6 Pro and just recently a Pixel 9 Pro XL. Both using the factory cables as Atoto requires. The unit will randomly reboot itself occasionally for no apparent reason. The FM radio cannot be used as the internal gain is set so high the output overdrives and distorts even when the volume is almost off. Bluetooth connection to the phone is never consistent, but when it connects phone calls are clear and the microphone seems to cancel vehicle noise as callers say there is little background. Due to time constraints this unit sat in the box for several months until it was installed and once it was I just used the unit to play music. Did not have time to get ahold of support at Atoto until yesterday to see if a firmware upgrade will solve any of this or if I just have a bad unit. From other reviews, I believe the issue is with this unit. I have written a long letter to Atoto support explaining all the problems and am waiting to hear back from them. They do not have the easiest contact and support system too use so it will interesting to see how they respond. Overall this unit has many features that if they were all working would be an excellent head unit and well worth the cost. Right now it is not much more than a high priced streaming music player. If that is what I wanted, there are many other far less expensive options to do that. This review will be updated once Atoto contacts me and the issues are resolved. If this unit was working as it should I would definitely buy again. UPDATE: I now give this unit 5 stars. I have replaced the camera for dashcam. It worked perfectly for 3 weeks then became very intermittent. Camera is excellent and the night vision is outstanding. I had the truck out of service for a month rebuilding transmission and installing new engine. When the battery was hooked back up and after all functional tests were performed, the head unit was turned back on and everything has worked perfectly. I will bring a full factory reset once everything is broken in and reinstall all apps. After a few years of use, and figuring out the little tricks and nuances of this unit, I am confident that it will correct any remaining issues. I plan to upgrade to the newer X-10 unit as soon as I recover from the costs of the rebuild. Overall, these units are very well made, have an outstanding feature set, sound quality is excellent, internal DSP features work as expected if time is taken for set-up, and customer service is responsive to inquiries. If time is not taken, and it will be considerably, to set this unit up correctly, the full capabilities will go wasted. I have complete audio test and set-up equipment, including calibrated mics, distortion analysers, spectrum analysers, and signal generators, and it took 2 full days to get it all dialed in. This is not a plug and play unit. It will take considerable time to set up properly. Once done, the results, and the performance of this unit are outstanding. Sound quality is among the best I have tested. I very highly recommend this unit in light of all of the above. Will definitely buy from Atoto again. Very satisfied. Support contacted me quickly and gave me extensive information on how to adjust parameters on the unit. All issues solved other than the dashcam. Also finally installed the backup camera and that is very impressive. Birdseye view works great and image quality is excellent day and night l. It takes a little time to set it up correctly, but once done, is every bit as good as any factory camera I have seen, even better than some.